The religious context of China’s psycho-boom

Urban China has witnessed an unprecedented flourishing of western psychological counselling and psychotherapy. A “psycho-boom” that encompasses a wide variety of phenomena has emerged amidst rapid economic development and massive societal changes. Accompanying the craze is the blossoming of private counselling centres, clinics, and training agencies, many of which embrace a commercial mindset and move quickly into the new market territory. In social sciences, the proposition that the popularisation of psychotherapy is associated with the decline of religion in the West, or the historical process of modernisation/secularisation, is constantly made. The chapter provides a brief outline of Chinese popular religion and delineate its transformation in the history of modern China. Chinese popular religion seems diffuse, complex, and, perhaps, disorganised for people more familiar with monotheistic traditions and the western concept of religion; they may find it difficult to define such components as canon, clergy, liturgy, and monasteries.